The Owlfred Chronicles

Hi everyone, I’m Laura Perkowski, OpenStudy’s new Marketing Intern. I’m really excited to be part of OpenStudy’s new West Coast team, and especially to get to meet all of you OpenStudiers, and to get to know all of you. So treat this as our introduction, and hopefully you’ll get to know me a little better through it.

How did I find OpenStudy? I graduated from college back in May, and was looking for an interesting job in San Francisco. I found OpenStudy while I was looking for a marketing job and went to check out the site, and loved it!

It was fascination at first sight. I went to a small college where collaborative learning happened all of the time, and if I needed help, I just walked down to a classmate’s apartment armed with my book, notes, and confusion. Using the Internet for help was nothing new, but a community where people all around the world want to help you not just get the answer, but help you figure out HOW to get the answer was amazing to me. I was accustomed to using instant messaging and email to interact with classmates and friends for help, but not people I’ve never met. I was also shocked by how similar a website of 100,000 users could be to a college of 2,000 students in culture. Both are warm and welcoming, both have a mix of popular members and other, quieter members, and both have a diverse group of supportive folks!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent far more time on OpenStudy than I have on almost any other website. It was amazing how welcoming people were to me. A few users knew that I was a new member of the team, but most didn’t. When I was able to answer questions in the mathematics and writing groups, I had no way of knowing what the community’s response would be to me. It was a little nervewracking to post that first answer! Then people seemed to like my answers and they fanned me!   I was so thrilled when I got my first testimonial!

I’m still so impressed by the quality and quantity of users that we have, and I hope to never stop being impressed. We have users ask questions about subjects ranging from linear algebra to very specific grammar protocols. I get to chat with people from all over the United States, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Ghana (just to name a few!). I’m also just as impressed by the users who aren’t in school, who don’t need the site to improve their knowledge, but come to help others.  What other community is like this on the Internet? How many other people would love this community?

That’s my job now. I’m here to help get the word out about OpenStudy and to get us new users and friends on the site. Maybe I’ll end up coming to your school to promote OpenStudy. If that’s the case, please come by and say “Hi!” to me. This is a site I would have gotten incredible value out of while in high school and college, and a site I now tell my friends still in school about. It’s an exciting time to be part of the OpenStudy team and part of the OpenStudy community.  We’re starting the OpenStudy Ambassadors program and the OpenStudy Global Interns Program, and that’s just what we have for January!

I want to end with saying thank you to the OpenStudy team, especially to Preetha and Chris, for choosing me to join the fantastic OpenStudy team. It has been an incredibly interesting first week, and I can’t wait to see what I learn and who I meet next.  Thank you also to the OpenStudy users who made me feel welcome, to those who fanned me, and to those who ask fantastic questions that I enjoy answering. To those that I haven’t met yet, don’t worry! I’ll meet you soon. Feel free to ask me questions, because I love making new friends! Want to keep our conversation going? Please comment down below, or find me on OpenStudy (I’m Laura*). I cannot wait to see how we all will change and improve OpenStudy over the next year!